Sunday, November 7, 2010

Where is she now?

That girl who struck us out?

I was about 12 or 13 and played 2nd base (occasionally SS and RF) on our Little League baseball team. One evening, a game took us out of El Dorado, Arkansas. To a little town ("town" is pushing things) 10 miles dead-East. I can't remember the name of that place, but I remember that game.

I recall warming up beforehand, playing catch with Randy Bourne. He had blond hair, was slim and a year younger than me. Boy, he sure could fling a ball straight at you. My tosses had a 10 to 15% chance of being wild.

Game starts. Lo and behold, the other team brings out a GIRL to pitch. Ha! This is going to be sweet! We're gonna annihilate em.

She was compact and rather attractive. Had short-cropped blond hair. She wasn't wearing a cap.

Our first batter didn't know what hit him. She fired three strikes in a row, and he didn't even think about swinging. He was worried about physical survival.

If my memory isn't too vague or tricky, she struck out nearly every one of us all night long. She never looked cocky out there on the mound, just confident. Simply enjoying what she was doing.

I got three at-bats and, like the others, just went through the paces. I mean, you couldn't even see the damn ball, much less try to hit it.

So...I do wonder where she is now. How her life went. Did she get to play more coed-style ball? Or did she become a great softball pitcher? I hope she had and is still having a wonderful life.

She was just so heroic-looking to me out there on the mound. Whizzing those scorchers past us and right over the plate.